Apparatus for attaching shoe soles



Jan. 4, 1938. c TZ D 2,104,118

APPARATUS FOR ATTACHING SHOE SOLES Filed NOV. 16, 1935 O "5x45 35TH: I 21 29 wfm a Patented Jan. 4, 1938 UNITED STATES PATEr or ies-I.

APPARATUS FOR ATTACHING SHOE SOLES Application November 16, 1935, Serial No. 50,174

7 Claims.

This invention relates to apparatus for attaching shoe soles and especially to the provision of an improved welt holddo'wn mechanism for use in machines by which soles are attached to shoes with cement andpressure.

It is'an object of the invention to provide an improved welt holddown which will adequately. support the projecting welt and sole extension and which will be capable of applying suflicient pressure to the welt to cause it to adhere securely to the sole without materially interfering with the manipulation of the work or its insertion in or removal from the machine.

A feature of the invention resides in the provision of a welt holddown which is capable of being readily conformed to shoes of different sizes and shapes so that the same holddown can be used upon a variety of shoes by merely making a simple change in adjustment without the necessity of changing any parts.

To this end the illustrated embodiment of the invention comprises a transversely disposed toe piece combined with movable side members having their front ends abutting the shoe engaging face of the toe piece and means for guiding the front ends of the side members for transverse adjustment along the said -shoe engaging face. This provides a three-piece holddown which may be readily adjusted to fit the toe portions of shoes of different widths and shapes while maintaining a substantially continuous shoe engaging surface.

Preferably the front ends of the side members are pivotally mounted on supports which are relatively adjustable toward or from each other to vary the width and contour of the toe portion of the holddown, such supports being illustrated herein as consisting of sliding blocks carried by the support for the toe piece of the holddown.

In order to facilitate the application of pressure to the welt of a shoe the holddown support may be arranged to yield downward under pressure applied by the pressure head of the sole attaching machine without changing its adjustment or shape.

Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from reading the following detailed description of one embodiment thereof in connection with the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is a plan view of a portion of a sole attaching apparatus including a welt holdown embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the apparatus;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section of a detail of the toe piece taken upon the line III-III of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a vertical section taken upon the line IV--IV of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 5 is a vertical section of a detail of the pressure applying device.

The details of construction of the pad box and pressure head of a sole attaching machine to which the welt holddown of the present invention is illustrated as applied are fully disclosed in an application for United States Letters Patent Serial No. 636,202, filed October 4, 1932, in the names of Milton H. Ballard et al., to which reference may be had for a full description of such details.

In the drawing, it indicates the pad support which is shown as consisting of a pad box, and i3 is the pad by which sole attaching pressure is applied to a shoe. Above the pad I3 is a pressure head i5 carrying a toe pad ll mounted in a toe post 59 with an interposed spring 2i which permits the toe pad to yield upward slightly under heavy pressure. When relative approaching movement of the pressure head l5 and the pad support H is effected the toe pad I? is caused to engage and bear firmly upon the top of the toe portion of the lasted shoe 23 in the machine.

In order to support the welt or sole .extension 25 of the shoe against the upward pressure, and in the case of a welt to press it firmly against the surface of the sole being attached, there is provided a novel three-piece welt holddown com prising a toe piece 21 and side members 29, 3i. The shoe engaging portions of the sections of the holddown are shaped as shown in Fig. 3 to conform to the welt crease of the shoe and are made of firm but not rigid material, such for example as vulcanized rubber of a suitable degree of hardness.

The toe piece 27 is firmly secured to a curved metal plate 33 of dovetail shape arranged to slide transversely of the shoe in a curved, dovetailed guideway cut in the under face of a toe piece support 35 carried by a vertical pin 37 which is slidable through a supporting plate 39 carried by a gage 4| arranged to engage and be positioned by the toe edge of the sole 63 to be attached to the shoe.

The plate 39 is adjustable longitudinally of the shoe in a housing by a lever ll-in the same manner that the shoe gages are adjusted in the machine disclosed in the Ballard et al. application already referred to. The housing 45 is pivoted at 68 to a forwardly extending member 49 in which is fixed a depending pin M9. The lower end of this pin is engageable in eitherone of two sockets 5|, being held in engagement therewith by a turn button 53 pivoted at 55 upon an arm 51 in the end portion of which the sockets 5! are formed.

The arm 51 corresponds to one of the tip line feeler arms disclosed in the Ballard et a1. application, being pivoted for horizontal swinging movement about the pivot 59 and for vertical swinging or yielding movement about a horizontal pivot pin BI.

By engaging the pin I49 in one or the other of the two sockets 5| the toe piece may be moved to extreme positions for long or short shoes, and finer adjustments may be made with the lever 41.

The point of a screw 63, which is threaded through the arm 51, rests upon a plate 65,'which covers the end portion of the pa d I3, and supports the arm at the proper height, while a compression spring I61 surrounding the pin 31 tends to hold the toe piece support 35 up to the plate 39.

The side members of the holddown are sustained and operated by a pair of swinging arms 61, 69 corresponding to the ball-line feeler arms disclosed in the Ballard et al. application. These arms swing horizontally about the pivots 59 and 1| respectively and vertically about horizontal pivots 13 and respectively.

Pivotally connected to the end of each of the 7 arms 61, 69, as shown at 11, is a horizontal link 19 to the outer end of which is pivoted a sole gage carrier 8| from which depend a pair of feelers 83 arranged to engage the edge of the sole 43. Mounted upon the carrier 8| are houslugs 85 in which are slidably mounted plates 81 which may be individually adjusted through the housings by levers 89 in the same manner that the plate 39 is adjusted by the lever 41.

Vertical pins 9| pass loosely through holes in the ends of the plates 81 and are surrounded by springs 93 which support them. To the: lower ends of each pair of pins 9| is affiX-ed a supporting member 95 to which'the side member 29 or 3|, as the case may be, of the holddown is secured at the same level as the toe piece 21.

The front ends of the side members 29, 3| abut the shoe engaging face of the toe piece 21 as shown in Fig. 1 and are adjustable toward or from each other along said face to vary the width and shape of the toe portion of the holddown. .For this purpose the front end of each support 95' is pivotally connected to a slidable block 91 guided for transverse adjustment in a dovetailed way in the upper face of the toe piece support 35, the pivot 99 comprising a stud having a threaded extension IOI which is screwed through the block 91 until its point bears upon the support 35, looking the block 91 in adjusted position. When it is desired to change the adjustment it is merely necessary to loosen the stud 99, move the block 91 to the desired position and again tighten the stud. When the stud is in tightened condition the support 95 isstill free to swing about it as a pivot.

In order to apply pressure to the holddown there is provided a pressure device comprising five radial arms I03 rigidly secured to the toe post I9 sustained by the pressure head I5. One of the arms I03 is arranged over each of the pins 31, 9| and through the end of each arm is adjustably threaded a bushing I05 in which is guided for vertical movement a plunger I01 surrounded by a spring I09 and having at its lower end an enlarged head III. 7

The springs I09 are fairly stiff and are of sufiicient strength to transmit the desired amount of pressure from the pressure head I5 to the sliding pins 31, 9| and thence to the three sections of the holddown which bear down upon the welt of the shoe. The threaded bushings I05 provide for individual adjustment of the pressure at the various points along the holddown to suit the requirements of the work being operated upon.

In the operation of the apparatus a sole is placed upon the pad I3 and the arms are swung until the gages 4| and 83 engage the sole edge at the toe and sides, respectively. The welted shoe is then placed upon the sole, the welt holddown members entering the welt crease of the shoe and gaging the position of the shoe relatively to the sole. Pressure is now applied by the machine, the toe pad I1 engaging the shoe and the holddown pressing the welt firmly down upon the extended margin of the sole with a pressure determined by the adjustment of the plungers I01 and the strength of the springs I09.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A welt holddown comprising a toe piece having a shoe engaging face disposedtransversely of the holddown, transversely movable side members having their forward extremities abutting the shoe engaging face of the toe piece, and means for guiding the forward extremities of the side members for transverse adjustment relatively to the toe piece along said shoe engaging face of the toe piece.

2. A welt holddown comprising a toe piece having a shoe engaging face disposedtransversely of the holddown, a downwardly movable support for said toe piece, means for yieldingly sustaining the toe piece, and transversely movable side members having their forward extremities abutting the shoe engaging face of the toe piece and sustained for transverse adjustment relatively to the toe piece upon said support.

3. A welt holddown comprising a toe piece and side members disposed in overlapping relation to provide a continuous shoe engaging face, the forward extremities of said side members being pivotally mounted upon and sustained by separate, independently movable supports which are relatively adjustable toward or from each other to vary the Width and contour of the toe portion of the holddown.

4. A welt holddown comprising a toe piece having a shoe engaging-face disposed transversely of the holddown, a support for said toe piece, blocks slidably adjustable upon said support in a path parallel to the shoe engaging face of the toe piece, means for securing said blocks in adjusted positions, and shoe engaging side members having their frontv ends pivotally connected to said blocks.

5. In a sole attaching apparatus, a welt holddown, means for yieldingly sustaining the holddown, a downwardly movable pressure head, and a series of downwardly spring-pressed plungers carried by the pressurehead and spaced above the holddown in positions to engage and depress .the latter upon downward movement of said said holddown, a downwardly movable pressure head, and a series of downwardly spring-pressed plungers carried by the pressure head with one of said plungers above each of said pins.

CHARLES F. FITZGERALD. 

